Moral Courage

For 38 years, the Roman Catholic Laymen's Retreat League of Philadelphia has held an annual retreat for men near the little Pennsylvania town of Malvern. So popular have these spiritual refreshers become that last year the league held them in installments for a total of 11,882 men. Last week, the annual dinner of the Men of Malvern* heard New York City's house-cleaning Police Commissioner Thomas F. Murphy, a Catholic, pay tribute to Quaker Whittaker Chambers.

Said Murphy: "In my opinion, one of the bravest of all Americans, and one of the most gallant, was Whittaker Chambers. Consider the agony and humiliation to which he submitted himself . . Chambers could have remained silent. In silence he could have protected the $30,000-a-year position he held ... his wife and two lovely children, who forever must bear the scars of that dreadful experience. And silence would have protected him from the devilishly clever smear campaign launched against him by Communists and their dupes in this country . .

"Whittaker Chambers has few equals in moral bravery, or physical bravery. And all of his charges have proved true . . . I have unbounded admiration for him, and I never let the opportunity escape to tell such a gathering as this the true story of his magnificent service to our country."

*Seven miles from Valley Forge, where Washington in 1778 knelt in prayer for his ragged army.

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